Test your innovations in AI and robotics for agriculture – Sweden

• June 4, 2024
• admin

Sensors, digitalisation and AI can be the basis for innovative agricultural products and services. AgrifoodTEF offers small and medium-sized companies the opportunity to test and verify their innovations aimed at agriculture at several of their test facilities free of charge. Here, companies can explore everything from crop production to livestock production, with the goal of accelerating the launch of their products and ensuring their functionality, safety and compliance with laws and regulations.

Quick launch of your products

Agriculture and food production in Europe face a number of challenges, including climate change, import dependency, antibiotic resistance, reduced profitability and leached soil. In order to support the development towards a sustainable and profitable agriculture, it is necessary to test and verify new technologies quickly. AgrifoodTEF, an EU-funded project, offers free testing opportunities for companies, helping innovations reach the market faster.

What would you like to test?

AgrifoodTEF offers access to two fantastic facilities for testing:

• Test bed digitized agriculture in Uppsala: Has focused on driving digitalisation and robotisation in the agricultural sector.
• AstaZero outside Borås: A test track focused on autonomous vehicles.

In addition, RISE has over 130 test and demonstration facilities that can be used depending on what the company wants to test. The combination of agricultural skills and other areas such as AI, digitalisation and autonomous vehicles aims to shorten the time between prototype and market introduction and build trust for new AI and robotics solutions in the agricultural sector.

Examples of services in our test facilities

• Verification and testing: Test robot machines, safety functions and sensor systems in both real and virtual environments.
• Guide to laws and regulations: Help navigate through regulations such as the Machinery Directive, the Data Act and the AI Regulation to ensure compliance.
• Testing new technologies: Explore and test new technologies before they are officially approved for general use.

Promoting technological development in agriculture

AgrifoodTEF will promote technology development in agriculture and offer opportunities to test new technology in real-world environments before market introduction. The goal is to introduce AI and robotics solutions in agriculture to strengthen the sustainability of food production. The project is coordinated by RISE in collaboration with AstaZero, with funding from the EU and Vinnova. The consortium consists of 29 partners from nine European countries, including Wageningen University and Research in Holland, Agrotech Valley in Germany and Fundazione Bruno Kessler in Italy.

Summary

Project name: AgrifoodTEF
Status: Ongoing
RISE role in the project: Participants
Project start: 2023-01-01
Duration: 5 years
Total budget: SEK 50 million
Partner: AstaZero
Funders: Vinnova, EU
Project website: AgrifoodTEF
Coordinator: Fondazione Bruno Kessler

International cooperation and sustainability

On 4 March in Berlin, the four European Testing and Experimentation Facilities (TEFs) for AI and robotics announced their readiness for business at the “All TEFs Open for Business” event. Petra Ritter from Charité Universitätsmedizin Berlin stresses the importance of this initiative and invites the AI community to participate. AgrifoodTEF and other TEFs offer technical support to test AI-based technologies in real-world environments, helping to accelerate the market introduction of credible AI in the EU.

Why is this a good example?

AgrifoodTEF is an excellent example of how strategic collaboration and access to extensive resources can drive digital transformation in agriculture. By combining expertise from leading institutions and offering tailored solutions, training and support at all stages of the digitisation process, AgrifoodTEF promotes innovation and sustainability. This model shows that concerted action can lead to significant improvements in efficiency, competitiveness and sustainability, to the benefit of individual companies and industry as a whole.